Hello Perl users,

First of all, I'd have to tell you that I'm not so good at English,
not at Perl either. :-)

I am reading 'perlsub' documents:
http://perldoc.perl.org/perlsub.html

In the section "When to still use local()", it says:
---
Despite the existence of my, there are still three places where the
local operator
still shines. In fact, in these three places, you must use local
instead of my.

1.
You need to give a global variable a temporary value, especially $_.

The global variables, like @ARGV or the punctuation variables, must
be localized with local(). This block reads in /etc/motd, and splits
it up
into chunks separated by lines of equal signs, which are placed in
@Fields .

{
   local @ARGV = ("/etc/motd");
   local $/ = undef;
   local $_ = <>;
   @Fields = split /^\s*=+\s*$/;
}

It particular, it's important to localize $_ in any routine that
assigns to it.
Look out for implicit assignments in while conditionals.

2.
....(omitted)...
---
("It particular" seems to be a typing error of "In particular")


Okay, I can (maybe) understand the point of this paragraph:
- I can (and I have to) use local() to localize the global variables

Then, what is the exact meaning of the last sentence?
"Look out for implicit assignments in while conditionals."



I guess "implicit assignments in while contitionals" are referrign to
the code like
  while ( <STDIN> ) { ... }
because it is, in fact,
  while ( defined ( $_ = <STDIN> ) ) { ... }
right?

First, I found that $_ is NOT localized automatically in the
conditional by assigning some value to $_ before the loop and printing
it after the loop.

Then, does the last sentence (with the sentence before it) mean:

1) It is better practice to localize $_ explicitly in the conditional:
   while ( defined ( local $_ = <STDIN> ) ) { ... }

or

2) If I am assigning to $_ in the loop for some reason, I have to
localize $_:
   while ( <STDIN> ) { ... local $_ = something; ... }

or

3) just "be aware and cautious, $_ isn't be localized automatically"

or

4) I am totally missing the point now :-/ It means something else

??


Any help will be appreciated.

Raymundo <gypark@gmail.com> wrote:

> I am reading 'perlsub' documents:
> http://perldoc.perl.org/perlsub.html

> Look out for implicit assignments in while conditionals.

> I guess "implicit assignments in while contitionals" are referrign to
> the code like
>   while ( <STDIN> ) { ... }
> because it is, in fact,
>   while ( defined ( $_ = <STDIN> ) ) { ... }
> right?


Exactly right.


> Then, does the last sentence (with the sentence before it) mean:
>
> 1) It is better practice to localize $_ explicitly in the conditional:
>    while ( defined ( local $_ = <STDIN> ) ) { ... }


It is even better practice to avoid package variables altogether!

    while (my $line = <STDIN>) {

I teach this rule:

    Always prefer lexical variables (my) over package
    variables (local, our), except when you can't.


> 2) If I am assigning to $_ in the loop for some reason, I have to
> localize $_:
>    while ( <STDIN> ) { ... local $_ = something; ... }


Yep, that is what you have to "look out" for (unless you use
a lexical variable rather than a package variable).


> Any help will be appreciated.

See also:

    http://perl.plover.com/FAQs/Namespaces.html#What_Good_is_C_local_

Note also, that starting with perl 5.10, you can make $_ lexical:

    while (my $_ = <STDIN>) {

See the "Lexical $_" heading in perldelta.pod from a recent perl
version.


-- 
Tad McClellan
email: perl -le "print scalar reverse qq/moc.liamg\100cm.j.dat/"
The above message is a Usenet post.
I don't recall having given anyone permission to use it on a Web site.

On 4=BF=F924=C0=CF, =BF=C0=C0=FC1=BD=C303=BA=D0, Tad McClellan <ta...@seesi=
g.invalid> wrote:
> Raymundo <gyp...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Then, does the last sentence (with the sentence before it) mean:
>
> > 2) If I am assigning to $_ in the loop for some reason, I have to
> > localize $_:
> >    while ( <STDIN> ) { ... local $_ =3D something; ... }
>
> Yep, that is what you have to "look out" for (unless you use
> a lexical variable rather than a package variable).
>

Thank you very much!